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Katy Perry emerged the victor saleswise in this fall's so-called pop diva face-off that saw new albums released by herself, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, among many others.

Perry's latest, Prism, which details her phoenix-like rise from the sadness surrounding the end of her 14-month marriage to British comic Russell Brand (and eventually into a relationship with fellow musician John Mayer), holds the 2013 record for highest first-week sales by a female artist down south.

"I'm very excited about it," said Perry, 29, decked out in a lavender turtleneck, plaid skirt and purple velvet Doc Martens, and tiny white Chanel change purse, in Toronto Sunday afternoon before an invitation-only Mod Club acoustic performance-Q&A.

But that doesn't mean the raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty is above listening to her competition and even liking them in some cases.

"There's a lot of heavy attention on 'pop diva' right now and competition and none of us like that," said Perry. "But I'm a huge supporter of music. .. And, of course, I had pre-ordered (Lady Gaga's) album. I bought (newcomer) Sky Ferreira's album. I bought Miley's. I'm interested."

Her summation of Cyrus - the most outrageous of them all in terms of her TV performances - was delivered in typical blunt Perry style.

"Miley's really a sweet girl and she has got some big balls," said Perry. "She just doesn't care what anyone thinks. But I'm friends with some of them. Some of them are not as friendly. Some of them are secret mean girls. Some of them are not cool. But I like to hang out with the unaffected genuine sweet girls in my industry."

Otherwise, Roar has become Perry's biggest-selling single of her career thus far and is even being used by NBC in its promos for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Toronto teenager Olivia Wise, who lost her battle with brain cancer last week, also covered Roar and the video became a YouTube sensation, inspiring Perry to send her a supportive video via twitter after she discovered it on CNN.

"We invited her ...to (Sunday) evening ... we were just really moved by her strength," said Perry. "It is very sad and my heart goes out to her family and to anyone else that is suffering from this kind of thing because I think unfortunately, it's not uncommon and I hear several stories like this. But this one was special because she didn't wallow in her sadness. She found the inspiration through this song and then recorded it and inspired people so much through that video. I was inspired by that video! ... I was just so moved and, of course, was in complete tears, was balling the night that she passed. But really inspired that she had the strength to do this and wanted to be positive through this experience. I don't know how I would have been."

When I ask Perry where she's at today - Prism begins with the empowerment song Roar and ends with the most vulnerable sounding By The Grace of God, which she told Billboard reflected some suicidal thoughts she was having after her marriage ended - she will only say: "Even though it starts out very vulnerable there's a lot of strength that you find in the arc. Towards the end, I've prevailed. And I think it's really just saying how grateful I am to have decided to stay and to give thanks to the grace of God or whatever huge cosmic thing was looking after me during that time."

Perry has only announced 2014 tour dates for her Prismatic tour in the U.K. so far and wouldn't say when she'll be coming to Canada, only that she definitely will.

"2014 is very promising for the Canadians, they're very important to me," she said. "They've always been like one of the top three leaders of my career and so I always pay attention to the people who give me the most love."

Katy Perry: Miley Cyrus 'has got some big balls'

Katy Perry emerged the victor saleswise in this fall's so-called pop diva face-off that saw new albums released by herself, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, among many others.

Perry's latest, Prism, which details her phoenix-like rise from the sadness surrounding the end of her 14-month marriage to British comic Russell Brand (and eventually into a relationship with fellow musician John Mayer), holds the 2013 record for highest first-week sales by a female artist down south.

"I'm very excited about it," said Perry, 29, decked out in a lavender turtleneck, plaid skirt and purple velvet Doc Martens, and tiny white Chanel change purse, in Toronto Sunday afternoon before an invitation-only Mod Club acoustic performance-Q&A.

But that doesn't mean the raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty is above listening to her competition and even liking them in some cases.

"There's a lot of heavy attention on 'pop diva' right now and competition and none of us like that," said Perry.

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